Ask 15 lawyers, and you’ll get 15 different answers...
From Columbia U.:
“Because the rule of “fair use” is not precisely defined, it is advisable to request the copyright owner’s written permission for any quotation or quotations of 150 words or more.”
Generally 150-200 words may be copied, but never more than 3 paragraphs.
You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
Basically, you may post anything public on boards,
web pages, and or magazines, as long as you claim that it does NOT belong to you, site the original author, and that you are using it only to represent, and not gain anything from their use, unless the owning entity specifically forbids it.
Why make up your own rules on Free Republic? The Admin Moderators have been clear the limit is 300 words or 1/2 of the article, whichever is less.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2678602/posts?page=25#25
Fair use is defined differently based on who wants to utilize that "fair use".
For example - there are liberal outlets who repost full articles and extended passages from many of the publications/sources on the "do not post" list here on FR... why? Because lawyers and judges are bought and paid for by the deep pockets of the those who also run these "news" outlets (who freely use those outlets to spread propaganda and other lies in support of their own particular political/moral position).
Seems that a "logical" application of "fair use" would and should follow along the rules for citation/quoting/excerpts in formal writing.
1. Always give the source for your material/quote (and FR requires this by default - which directs more traffic to those web sites/sources - so they benefit... but details details).
2. Anything more than three lines directly quoted must be indicated as such (covered again by #1).
3. Quoting of full articles is generally considered wrong/bad practice (unless given permission under specific circumstances by the author/publisher).
I can kind of understand some situations - many media outlets subscribe for/or pay per-article to the AP and other organizations for stories. IF it is posted under that license on say the NY Slimes web site - then one of us were to copy an entire article (or substantially all of it) and post it here with no citation at all, or with only a link back to the NY Slimes... that wouldn't exactly be a "fair use" -
But it is truly beyond my ability to comprehend why some sources absolutely refuse to even allow a small excerpt with a link back - which does not infringe on any copyright, and actually directs MORE web hits/traffic to the full posted article on their own page. The ONLY explanation then, is politics. But for a court to even look at that give the media outlet a judgment in their favor, to me, proves the corruption in the system.